Results

LACEY, Wash. – The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country teams made a mark on the trails on Saturday, as they placed fourth and sixth as a team, respectively, at the Saint Martin's Invitational on Saturday morning. Senior Kim Fitzgerald led the Alaska women in the 5km race, while fellow senior Seiji Takagi led all Alaska men in the 8km run.

"We ran well today but it was a bizarre race because some of our normal indicators of our performance were less evident today," head coach Nick Crawford said on Saturday. "We often use placement among Division II schools or comparing to personal-best times as a measurement for performance but this race did not lend itself towards that. There were only a couple of Division II schools competing today and the course ran very slow compared to some of the other courses we've ran. We had great weather and its relatively flat but there were many hard corners each lap and large sections of wood chips that results in it being quite slow. I would estimate it was about 30-45 seconds slower that many of the women's 5k personal-bests and a minute to a minute and a half slower than the men ran at the Sundodger Invitational last weekend."

The Alaska Nanooks women's team placed sixth amongst 15 teams, combining for a total score of 192 points. Alaska tallied a total time of 1:43:25 and averaged 20:41 per runner. Of the fellow Great Northwest Athletic Conference schools competing on Saturday, the Alaska women ranked third behind Saint Martin's (128) and Western Washington (131).

Fitzgerald was the first Nook to cross the finish line, clocking in at 20:04.9. Fitzgerald placed 22nd overall and averaged a 6:27.8 mile. Senior Ann-Cathrin Uhl (20:18.8) placed second amongst the Nanooks, followed by junior Kati Roivas (20:41.5), junior Jocelyn Kopsack (20:54.3), freshman Hannah Dueling (21:25.9) and senior Cheyenne Greenside (21:32.4).

"Kim led the women's team today with a solid race but Anni had a great race to be just 15 seconds behind her," Crawford said of his women's team. "I was really pleased with how our remaining three scorers: Kati and Jocelyn and also Hannah, who did really well in her first time competing in an out-of-state meet. Jocelyn is a junior this year but has improved a ton and I think set a 5km cross country personal record today, despite the slow course."

The Alaska men's team placed fourth out of 13 teams, being the second GNAC team behind Western Washington. Alaska tallied 99 points throughout the race, posting a total time of 2:20:19 with the average time being 27:58.

Takagi placed 11th overall with a time of 27:24.6 for his highest overall finish this season. Takagi was followed by senior Lyon Kopsack (27:35.5), senior Jan Cech (27:36.7), senior Carl Wahlin (27:56.8) and freshman Logan Mowry (29:21.0).

"The men had a good race and again our top-four were quite close together showing our great depth," Crawford concluded. "Seiji again led the team and just missing the top-10 overall. Jan and Lyon both ran tactically very well and had a good performance despite both of them feeling a little sick going into the race. Jan led the entire race but Lyon pulled a classic, burning past him in the final few meters. It was also great to have Carl back in good form after missing a few races due to injury and illness. Our two freshman boys Logan and Aaron (Bravo) had a good college debuts to racing."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country teams take a two week break from racing, returning on Saturday, Oct. 7 for the Western Washington Invitational in Bellingham, Washington.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country teams, follow @AlaskaNanooksXC on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.